Bridging the Gap

Chapter Two - Unsteady Alliance

Draco trudged his way into the Potions classroom, taking a seat by himself in the back. Crabbe and Goyle sat in the row in front of him, and the rest of the Slytherins trickled in, filling up the seats before him and his two attachments in nice, orderly pairs. Granger had partnered with Longbottom, probably to ensure that his cauldron didn't explode, again, and Potter had paired up with the Weasel, as usual.

Draco idly wondered what stupid Gryffindor he'd get paired with on that lonely Tuesday. Not that he cared, he was just glad that it wasn't Longbottom. Finnegin was all right as far as potion-making went, not the best, but not the worst by a long shot, as was McKenzie, a sixth year who had excelled and had been grudgingly been put with the seventh years to make the classes even. No one else on the Gryffindor side, according to Malfoy, could brew a proper potion if the recipe up and bit them on the nose.

Which led to Draco musing on another subject. He didn't often swear, contrary to popular belief, and when he did it was with good reason. He found it annoying when people expected him to cuss out the Boy Who Lived To Make Life Hell or to take down the Weasel in a match of dirty words and innuendoes. It was vile, and degrading, and generally un-Malfoy-ish.

It was also one of the reasons Slytherin house was hardly speaking to him anymore. That was one of the 'secrets' that the fumbling duo had let 'slip' when they realized that, yes, Draco was still one of the favorites among the students of the house of snake. That had dropped the level of respect said snakes had for him by quite a bit. Draco hadn't been happy with that fact - after all, he hadn't changed at all - but there wasn't much that he could do about it any more.

Lost in thought, Draco missed the shuffling of students around him, and blatantly ignored whatever lowly lion fan had chosen to sit next to him, most likely in the hopes of actually getting a good mark on the potion for once.

It was the third class that he would be the 'odd' Slytherin that would be partnered with one of the opposing house, and the first time that he would be paired with one of the mangy curs. He was not looking forward to it. He was pulled out of his misery by the familiar bang of the dungeon door, signaling the arrival of Professor Snape, Hogwarts very own Potions master. "Wands away, please. I'm sure that you've all done a wonderful job of reading your assignment thoroughly last night. The potion that you read about will be what we are creating today. Write down what you remember reading about the potion on a piece of parchment, then hand it in with your partner's. You may not help each other, and there will be no books out.

"Once everyone had turned in their parchments, then I will place the proper instructions on the board. I will expect a full vile from each student by the end of class.

"There will be silence until the proper instructions are up. I suggest that you hurry," the professor concluded. Draco knew the potion; he hadn't had anything to do the night before but review his homework several times. He had been able to do some extra research on this potion, as well as magical creatures and look up several counters to dark spells for the Defense Against the Dark Arts course. So Draco immediately pulled out his parchment and quill and began scratching away on the paper, listing the ingredients, the uses, and procedure in record time. Because he had time to spare, he also added the uses and dangers of the potion that hadn't been in the regular books, which was sure to win him good marks from his favorite professor.

His partner, whoever the bloody fool was, was still writing, so Draco shoved his paper over for the other to turn in when he - or she - finished. He would have laid his head down on his folded arms to wait, but that would have been very un-Malfoy-like, so he quelled the urge and settled for resting the side of his face on the palm of his hand and staring at the blackboard. It was almost as if he was willing the instructions to appear so that he could get this class over and done with. He neither noticed nor cared when his partner stood, taking both completed sheets to Snape's desk and depositing them on the growing pile. Only ten minutes had passed in the class, but most of the students had finished with the written portion of the assignment.

As Longbottom and a few others scribbled madly, Draco wondered why Snape had suddenly popped this exam up on the students. It wasn't like him to simply as for a potion like this, he usually asked questions during this time, using it to add and deduct house points as necessary, or he would demand that they turn in an essay at the next class. Never before had he demanded something from memory.

"You can expect something similar to come up in your N.E.W.T.s," Snape informed the class as the last paper was turned in. "You may begin."

Draco looked over the instructions briefly to make sure that he was right before heading to the storage room to get the ingredients that they'd need to brew the potion. That left his partner, as of yet unnamed, to set up the cauldron and what not. Draco much preferred the magic of potions, mostly because there was little room for error, but also because that there was little that could go wrong if it was brewed correctly. Spells could go wrong or become weaker if pronounced the wrong way, if you inflected the wrong part of the word, or spoke with too much of an accent. Potions weren't that picky. Sure you would have too much trouble if you added too much Mandrake root or Wolfsbane, but the ingrediants themselves didn't care what you called them.

Draco sat down once more and placed the necessary components on the desk before him and his partner.

"If you cut the chamomile, I'll work on the orange blossoms and vanilla."

That voice caused Draco's head to shoot up. Yes, it was his partner, but..."Potter?"

Harry Potter raised one dark eyebrow. "You expecting your fairy godmother? Yes, I'm Potter. Now, chamomile, or orange blossom and vanilla?"

"Chamomile," Draco answered stiffly, silently wondering how in all seven hells he had gotten Potter, his worst enemy, as a partner in Potions and not even noticed.

He also decided that he was NOT going to mention the other use for vanilla.

~End Chapter Two~